Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Maine frontman John O'Callaghan was arrested after their concert Thursday night in Ft. Lauderdale for refusing to follow a police officer's orders to get out of the street when a group of fans bombarded him.

One fan who witnessed the arrest wrote into Poison Ivy to tell the story.

"Around 11 p.m., after Boys like Girls performed, everyone went outside and John O was mobbed by a bunch of girls who wanted autographs from him. This took place in the road, next to the sidewalk. The [police officer] told John to get out of the road and to go onto the sidewalk or else he would be arrested. John was trying to yell at the girls in the nicest way possible to get onto the sidewalk so that he wouldn't be arrested. The girls didn't listen because they wanted to take pictures with him. John spoke back to the cop saying he wasn't going to move. The cop then walked John across the street and pushed him against a tree and handcuffed him. All the fans ran alongside to see what was happening and could not believe what was going on. I only remember John saying 'Are you serious?' He was extremely upset about the situation and did not know why he was getting arrested. Neither did anyone."

Check out the video above to watch a portion of the arrest, and the most "Noooooo's!" you've ever heard in your life.

Less than 48 hours ago, indie rockers Mae awoke at a tour stop in Philadelphia to learn that their van, instruments, equipment and merchandise had been stolen from their hotel parking lot.

"We almost didn't make it here," frontman Dave Elkins told the audience at Irving Plaza Friday night, their second show since the incident. "But we thought, how in the world could we not play New York City?"

So Mae took the high road: playing to New York for nearly two hours, including songs like "Suspension," "Breakdown," Embers and Envelopes," "The Everglow," all while borrowing instruments from their friends in opening bands Deas Vail and Jenny Owen Youngs (who reminded us so much of a younger Jenny Lewis.)

Don't get us wrong: we love Mac. In fact, we're typing this post from our beloved G5 right now. But anyone who argues that the keyboard on their iPhone is "sleek" or even remotely usable is a bullshit artist.

"I don't mind not having a flash!"

Lies.

Motorola has tapped into these glitches by creating the Droid, their new, virally-campaigned, interchangeable-batteried, touchscreen-with-full-keyboard "anti-iPhone" with five-megapixel camera and flash, which came out Friday exclusively through Verizon Wireless.

So you can imagine our excitement when we were invited to their launch party Friday night at New York's Angel Orensanz Foundation! Especially when we found out Yeah Yeah Yeahs were playing!!!

It was our first time seeing the YYYs, and Karen O absolutely killed it. The frontlady rocked "Shame and Fortune," "Gold Lion," "Soft Shock," "Black Tongue" and tons of other songs, while cryptic "DROID DOES" signs flickered in the background.

Check out a glimpse of the magic (which includes Karen performing in the audience and eating her microphone), below.

It's just before midnight on Wednesday, and The Fray frontman Isaac Slade approaches the stage at the Bob Woodruff Foundation benefit at B.B. King Blues Club in New York.

"Congratulations, the New York Yankees have won the World Series," he says.

Slades then sets his MacBook down on the piano in front of him and dives into a song, while broadcasting victory clips of the win on his laptop for the audience.

The Fray's set was part of Woodruff's benefit to support injured war veterans and their families - planned by Bloc Group philanthropist Matthew Isaacs and attended by celebrity guests like Wilmer Valderrama and DJ Grandmaster Flash (bottom photo).

The Fray played a 10-song set that included hits "Over My Head (Cable Car)," "How To Save a Life," "She," and "You Found Me," but also included one unexpected jam - a Kris Allen-esque cover of Kanye West's "Heartless."

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Especially if you were at the Paley Center for Media Monday night for their Q&A with the brains behind HBO's newest show, Bored to Death.

We're going to go on record and say it's the funniest show on television!!!

Actor Jason Schwartzman (top photo), Executive Producer Jonathan Ames (middle photo),actor Ted Danson and moderator John Hodgman (bottom photo) sat down with some 300 Bored to Death fans to discuss how the cast linked up, why weed is such a integral part of the show, and what viewers can expect from season two. And oh yeah, they showed us the season one finale!!

"There's a line from my book The Extra Man that sums up [season two]," Ames said. "Through troubles and into more troubles, that's my motto!"

Ames said the characters will continue to grow as individuals, but also that "these guys will test each other and help each other."

Schwartzman, a long-time fan of Ames' work, admitted he was nervous about playing his hero on TV.

"I was paranoid that I was going to ruin his writing," said the Rushmore actor. "So I had Jonathan come to my apartment and read me the pilot into my GarageBand on my Mac... And I burned it onto an MP3 and just listened to it."

Ames was also nervous about meeting with Schwartzman, but mainly because he unknowingly brought the long-time Vegan to a deli for lunch.

"I invited him to Izzy's in Santa Monica [for our first meeting]," Ames said. "Where basically the napkins are meat."

Ames immediately felt that Schwartzman would make a good lead character, and also felt strongly about Ted Danson's role.

"Ted was [so great] in the pilot, I immediately killed off two characters," Ames admitted. "[I thought], this role has to be bigger."

Danson, who plays a pot-smoking magazine editor on the show, spoke about what they're really puffing on on set.

"We smoke ginseng," Danson told the audience. "I swear to God, you'll be higher than a kite and you don't need [marijuana]."

But Ames has his own views on the drug.

"It can be a lovely drug, from my memory of it," Ames said. "I think there might be something going on in the country with the legalization of it that we're tapping into."

We're not going to give you spoilers from the epic, emotionally uplifting, rip-roaring finale, but we will say this: vaporizer, sex, boxing match!

You can imagine our excitement when we got to Bryant Park Grill for their Halloween Masquerade Saturday night and saw our favorite Real Housewife of New York Jill Zarin dressed as Poison Ivy!! Especially since Poison Ivy's costume was a real housewife of 1950!

Talk about trading places!!!

"A lot of people are dressing as Caroline from Real Housewives of New Jersey," Zarin tells us, of RH-inspired costumes she's seen. "And Kelly [Bensimon]."

Also at the party were Zarin's husband Bobby (top photo), Lisa Gastineau (who talked to Poison Ivy about her new jewelry line Tres Glam: "[The evil eye necklaces] are made with all real diamonds," she said), event promoter Sally Shan, and Ally Zarin (bottom photo), who wascelebrating her birthday ("I applied to Brown yesterday!" she gushed.)